Lilian Freeman obituary

In her later years Lilian Freeman benefited from many of the services that she had campaigned for in her earlier work. Photograph: Alan Freeman

Our mother, Lilian Freeman, who has died aged 97, had a long and varied working life, both in paid and voluntary posts. It was in the school meals service in the 1960s that she started her involvement with the General and Municipal Workers' Union (GMWU, now the GMB). She became a shop steward in 1964 and could always be relied upon to help members with problems. She also joined various groups associated with the unions, such as the Trades Council and Workers' Educational Association.

One of six children, she was born Lilian Whittington in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. Before the second world war, she worked in various jobs in domestic service in the north-east and also in London. Some of her fondest memories were of working for a theatre manager, through whom she met many of the stage stars of the 1930s.

During the war, she worked in civil defence, the Auxiliary Fire Service, the Naafi and the Bevin Boys hostels. She was in the invasion camps just before D-day and would tell us stories of how the troops coped with boredom and worry in equal measure. After the war, she married Thomas Freeman and brought us up. Then, in 1963, she joined the school meals service, remaining there until she retired at 65.

On retirement Lilian started a new career in voluntary work and became associated in particular with elderly people. She joined the North East Pensioners' Association, serving on various committees. She was a delegate to the National Pensioners Convention and the European Pensioners Forum. Ill health forced her to cut down on her commitments in her mid-80s but she continued to take an interest in all things to do with the union and pensioners' movements.

In her later years she benefited from many of the services for which she had campaigned in her earlier work. Her funeral was simple and dignified, in accordance with her wishes (one of the pensioners' association's concerns being funeral costs). We all left with smiles on our faces as the words of the Strawbs song rang out: "You don't get me I'm part of the union, till the day I die."

She is survived by us, her youngest sister, Muriel, and two grandchildren, Ulrik and Emma.